Chapter 15
Naked To The Eye
"This ain't the way to the hospital." Faith says, stopping suddenly. Her fists balled tight.
"No. This is the way to my apartment, where you are gonna sober up tonight before I take you to the hospital." She angles her head, disbelievingly. I square off, hands on my hips and stare her down. "They won't treat you when you are this toasted, dumbass." I turn and keep walking.
She is a few steps behind me when I reach the door, unlock and thump my way up the flight of stairs to my place. I bee line for the fridge and take two bottles of water. She catches her bottle, and I turn my attention to hydrating and only hydrating, absolutely not trying to distract myself from the fact Faith Lehane is currently standing in my kitchen, which feels suddenly very, very small.
"Real nice place for just a barmaid." She says, spinning on her heels to take in the studio. "Who ya screwing for this?"
"It was a shithole when I got here. I fixed it up. That wall had a hole in it, I suspect a body was removed. The bench was shot, I added those shelves, and those over there by the bed. I made that table too."
"You need a life."
"I have a life." I take a glug of my water bottle. "I also have a nice apartment. Touche."
"I had a nice apartment. It had a Playstation and a big comfy bed you could bounce on. It was nice. Real nice." This statement drowns with melancholy. She scrunches up her mouth in anger for a moment.
"Drink that. All of it. The shower is through there. I will set up the couch." She nods, and pads her way into the bathroom. I hear her clumsily setting to work. The taps come on and the pipes over my head rattle.
I bin the bottle and place both hands over my face, taking in a long, slow breath. What the hell am I doing? What the very hell am I doing? I glance around my kitchen and notice all knives and scissors about the place, oh, and I have that battleaxe in the broom cupboard. What? Sue me- this is Sunnydale.
Of course, one of the most dangerous monsters in this whole crazy town is currently drunk off her mind and in my en suite singing what is possibly a Curve song to herself.
My neck is throbbing and my ribs are aching like a bitch. I think about the painkillers, sitting untouched on the lowest bookshelf by my bed and wave the idea away. 'Like father, like son' should no longer apply, right?
Still… maybe it could- yeaaaaahhhgg!
Faith is standing in front of me, completely and... and... shockingly naked. I swallow and turn my head to the side, memories flowing through me like AC.
As fast as I reacted, I still caught a glimpse of a wide, jagged scar on her lower abdomen.
"Uh… you got any towels?" She says, completely oblivious to her nudity.
"Yeah, sorry. Laundry day. Here." I say, and scoop off a towel from the basket. I hand it to her without looking away from my cosy safe wall.
"You don't got no sisters, I take it?" She says. I shake my head, my cheeks burning.
She isn't moving. I glance back at her, keeping my eyes strictly neck up.
She is staring at me with an amused expression, and it's like she is trying to figure something out. Her sallow cheeks are flushed with booze, and she sways a little. There is something cobra like in the motion.
Then, without any seeming trigger, she turns and heads back into the bathroom, leaving me to let go my breath. I hear the shower door curtain pulled closed and the sound of the water changes as she steps under it.
Right. Blankets. Pillows. I set about making up the couch.
That done, I just slump onto my bed and fight off the migraine I sense sneaking in to skullfuck me.
"I saved ya some hot water." Faith says when she appears, this time, I note, she has her nakedness hidden behind a towel.
"Oh, it's continuous hot water. You can just let it run and run and pretend it's washing your troubles away."
Faith is now looking about at my things. I don't have much stuff, not like I used to at home. Some graphic novels crept in, and some books- cocktail making and carpentry. A lamp. Some plants to stop the place feeling dead and empty. There are crosses and stakes here and there too. She holds one up, a big one and looks back at me, approvingly. She gives me a waggle of her brows, then puts it down, setting it spinning on the shelf. Her appraisal walk ends with her standing at the foot of my bed.
"I like it." She says. "It's spartan."
"Thanks. I guess."
"Yunno. You never asked me my name."
"That I did not."
"You gonna?"
"Nope." I said.
"This me?" She points a thumb to the couch. She looks at me like there is more to the question, like, perhaps this is the point where I other invitations could be offered.
Oh.
I swallow and pull my knees up to my chest, wrapping my arms about them. My big bed suddenly feels ridiculously so for just me. I find myself sort of chewing on my knee with my upper row of teeth.
Her head tilts again, trying to figure me out.
"I think…" I say, quietly, "I uhm… would like to just keep things uncomplicated".
"Works for me." She says.
"I mean." I say in a strangely tiny voice. "that's you there, and this... is me."
She shrugs, her smile not leaving her face but changing subtly. Then she steps back, still unsteady on her feet, and slips beneath the blanket on the couch. A towel drops to the floor.
"G'nite Alex."
"G'nite."
I slip into the bathroom to pee. But the warm, damp air from the shower makes me decide to take one myself.
The water feels like heaven against my body, and only then it strikes me just how bone tired I am. I feel like every muscle has been tense, not just since Faith appeared, but for a while now. I take the time to lather my skin with bodywash and work each muscle as I do.
Some things never wash away. But then again, some things do.
When I return to the room, red skinned and wrinkly, Faith is asleep and breathing is slow, deep, even snores.
Though I had sex with Faith, or, I guess, she had sex with me, I never slept with her. She kicked me to the curb as soon as her orgasm subsided and the first yawn hit, not even giving me time to put my clothes on. My point is, I never slept with her. I have never seen her sleep.
She looks younger than I remember, her brows relaxed, her face not faking any expression. She looked… completely vulnerable.
I think I understand now why she never sleeps with anyone.
I slip into my own big, soft bed, but it takes a while for me to find sleep.
